


Not for the better

by Draqua09 (Sum1strange009)



Series: Transformers [8]
Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One), Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Decepticon uprising, Drabble, Not really a poem, Result of in-depth theorising at 2am, and there was never a war, angst as usual, as usual, if Megatron had won, my theories, poem-ish
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-23
Updated: 2020-04-23
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:40:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23803246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sum1strange009/pseuds/Draqua09
Summary: Self-indulgent DrabbleInspired by the interaction between Rung and Megatron in issue #28 of MTMTE
Series: Transformers [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1538773
Comments: 1
Kudos: 2





	Not for the better

**Author's Note:**

> So yeah....this happened.

The rebellion was in its opening stages when he came to them. Their leader, Megatron, was young and rash back then but, surprisingly, was prepared to hear what he had to say. It was obvious from the newcomer’s shine that he was well-off, and this spawned immediate dislike from all who were present. However, Megatron had allowed him presence and the other members could do no more than glower angrily at the young mech from their seats.  
  
He had come, he said when asked to clarify his purpose for being there, in order to become a mouthpiece for the rebellion. He was a part of many high-caste circles, he admitted, and he said he could make them listen.

At his words, the meeting exploded into uproar. The thought of relying on the high-caste to further the rebellion was laughable, the members said. Why enlist help from the very ones they seek to overthrow? The very people who are responsible for their suffering? Insults were hurled about the room and, for a moment it seemed that the young mech was going to be killed on the spot but Megatron silenced them all with a quick gesture.

He rose to his pedes, staring down at the young mech and, while he seemed to be the most calm person in the room, you could see by the angry glint in his optics that he agreed with everything the other members had brought up. He had questions, he said. What did the _sparkling_ think “talking” would do that violence couldn’t? How would “talking” change the minds of those set in their ways for generations? (And here his voice rose and his optics gleamed.)Those that had used and downtrodden people like them for generations?! His actions captivated the room and all at once it became clear as to why he was the leader of this movement.

“No!” He cried, with a gesture of finality. “There will be no TALKING! We will overthrow the tyrants and slaughter them to the last bot. But! We will do so with our optics open. We will not hide behind words like ‘the lesser evil’. We will dirty our servos literally as well as figuratively! And we will create a shining new era from the rubble of their walls!” Cheers erupted throughout the room but Megatron turned to the young mech, gesturing for quiet. “What do you say to that, our diplomatic friend?” He asked in the ensuring silence.

The young mech sighed. “I had believed,” he began, “that this was more than just a rebellion” he said quietly, “I suppose I was wrong”

Megatron frowned. “What do you mean by that?” He demanded.

The young mech straightened, “How long do you think this has gone on?” He replied, in lieu of answering. “Generation after generation. Empires fall and new ones rise. Your ancestors were once the high-caste and mine the disposables. Tyrants are overthrown and new ones are placed on new thrones with a new name for ‘tyrant’. There is no ‘lesser evil’. Time after time rebellions are staged and it always ends the same way; the leader reaches the top of the tower and sees that, ‘while the system is not perfect, it is the easiest way’. And so they sit down in the throne and send the high-caste prisoners off to go work as they once did. And things go on the same. The overthrown and the overthrower become one and the same. You place yourselves above them purely on the basis of honesty but I ask you this: is murder any less of a crime when committed in broad daylight than under the shadow of night?”

For a second the room was dead silent. It seemed even Megatron was taken aback. “Then what are you ideas for the rebellion?” He asked at last.

“To chip away at the walls of their hierarchy until, by the time they come crumbling down, no one remembers there ever having been walls in the first place. To build halls instead of towers and a government that abides by the rules of the people rather than people abiding by the rules of the government!”

The room was silent once more. “It is a good dream” Megatron said finally. “But it is just that. A dream”

The young mech was taken away and shot. The first energon spilt in the name of the Decepticon uprising.

That night Megatron made a speech:

**_Citizens, we are those who have been oppressed. A council of tyrants rules Cybertron. Tyrants who feast while we starve, are pleased by our pain, tyrants to whom our toil provides comfort._ **

**_And it has always been so._ **

**_We are the downtrodden, the disposables, we are given a purpose and we do it or we die, UNTIL we die._ **

**_Is this how we want to continue to live? Is this the life we want for the ones who come after us? The new sparks, the future of our generation, our sparklings, our grandsparklings?_ **

**_It does not have to be this way, citizens. I have a dream, a vision. A new society with the wellbeing of the PEOPLE at its spark. We will break down the walls of hierarchy they hide behind. We will knock them off their pedestals and crush those pedestals underpede. We will build halls from the rubble of their towers and create a government that answers to the rules of the people rather than that of the people answering to the rules of the government._ **

**_I ask you now, those of you who believe in this dream, believe in a better future for yourself and those who come after you, to rise up and take what is ours, so that the past of oppression is forgotten in the light of the shining new era of tomorrow, made possible through the toil of today._ **

**_Citizens, I ask you to rise up!_ **

So concludes my story. A story of the creation of our society today. I remember the old ways for I am old, so old. My spark flickers and fades with each breath and it will not be long until I am one with the Allspark, but I felt I must tell this story to those of you who come after me.

And perhaps this way of life is better than the old, but I cannot seem to tell the difference anymore.

After all, there is no lesser evil.

The old ways had people like us as well. Those of who the burden of toil rested upon their backs. Those who worked so others could live. The old ways had towers and pedestals and murders committed under the shadow of night.

So I ask you, the young, how much different do you think the old ways were to the new? The new towers and pedestals, though there are few, are much taller than the old.

And I ask you, the young, is murder any less of a crime to have been committed in broad daylight than under the shadow of night?

And I ask you, the young, what good are rules made by the people for the government to follow, if it is only a certain few people that are able to make those rules, as set out by the government?

Perhaps I should not be so surprised.

After all, this “Shinning new era” was founded on the energon-soaked dreams of my long-dead son.


End file.
